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A Beginner's Guide to Taiwanese: Difference between revisions
A Beginner's Guide to Taiwanese (view source)
Revision as of 16:27, 12 November 2019
, 16:27, 12 November 2019→How to make a syllable: Now may be a good time to try your hand at the 7 tones chart
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(→How to make a syllable: Now may be a good time to try your hand at the 7 tones chart) |
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Taiwanese is a tonal language which means that pitch is used to convey meaning. Many words are differentiated solely by tone. Learning to speak and hear the [[tones of Taiwanese]] correctly is often difficult for beginners. With practice you will be able to hear and speak them. Again most speakers of Taiwanese are not aware of the different tones but they can all understand you when you pronounce them correctly. | Taiwanese is a tonal language which means that pitch is used to convey meaning. Many words are differentiated solely by tone. Learning to speak and hear the [[tones of Taiwanese]] correctly is often difficult for beginners. With practice you will be able to hear and speak them. Again most speakers of Taiwanese are not aware of the different tones but they can all understand you when you pronounce them correctly. | ||
As you may have noticed from the | As you may have noticed from the ''Seven Tones'' chart, there are five long tones and two short tones: | ||
* ''f'', ''x'' and ''r'' are silent tone indicators for long tones | * ''f'', ''x'' and ''r'' are silent tone indicators for long tones | ||
* short tones always end with a stop letter that tells both consonant and pitch | * short tones always end with a stop letter that tells both consonant and pitch | ||
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[[File:y yn kym titw zhwn.mp3|thumb|none|y, yn, kym, titw, zhwn]] | [[File:y yn kym titw zhwn.mp3|thumb|none|y, yn, kym, titw, zhwn]] | ||
For shouting tone vowel + nasal final consonant, ''r'' is always used, e.g., ''{{x|irm}}'', ''{{x|iarm}}'', ''{{x|irn}}'', ''{{x|urn}}'', ''{{x|iern}}'', etc. | For shouting tone vowel + nasal final consonant, ''r'' is always used, e.g., ''{{x|irm}}'', ''{{x|iarm}}'', ''{{x|irn}}'', ''{{x|urn}}'', ''{{x|iern}}'', etc. | ||
Now may be a good time to try your hand at the [[:File:Seven Tones of Taiwanese.pdf|''Seven Tones'']] chart. | |||
=== Syllable structure === | === Syllable structure === | ||
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* a vowel is always required | * a vowel is always required | ||
* there is never "double nasal": ''v'', ''-m'', ''-n'', or ''-ng'' are mutually exclusive | * there is never "double nasal": ''v'', ''-m'', ''-n'', or ''-ng'' are mutually exclusive | ||
Finally, syllables usually aren't "double nasal". For example, ''ban'' and ''bang'' are valid, but ''man'' and ''mang'' are not valid. However, when ''[[ng]]'' is the vowel, we do see | Finally, syllables usually aren't "double nasal". For example, ''ban'' and ''bang'' are valid, but ''man'' and ''mang'' are not valid. However, when ''[[ng]]'' is the vowel, we do see ''m'' and ''n'' as the initial: ''mng'', ''{{x|mngg}}'', ''{{x|nngf}}'', etc. | ||
== Tone sandhi == | == Tone sandhi == | ||